Hampton Beach murder suspect has violent past

Tuesday

Oct 8, 2013 at 2:00 AM

HAMPTON — The man charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing his roommate with a sledgehammer is also a sex offender with a number of violent offenses in his background, according to a review of his criminal history.

Nick B. Reid

HAMPTON — The man charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing his roommate with a sledgehammer is also a sex offender with a number of violent offenses in his background, according to a review of his criminal history.

Peter Bartoloni, 70, was arrested Saturday on a charge of failing to report his sex-offender status to police before charges of second-degree murder came from State Police on Monday, following the investigation of a "suspicious death" on M Street.

The announcement by the N.H. attorney general's office comes four days after Robert "Bob" Roderick, 56, was found bloodied and dead on his living room couch, killed by "multiple blunt impact injuries to his head," according to Attorney General Joseph Foster.

Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley declined to comment on Bartoloni's potential motive or criminal history, but did allege he used a sledgehammer in the attack.

According to New Hampshire law, a person is guilty of second-degree murder if he or she knowingly causes the death of another; or, he or she causes such death recklessly under circumstance manifesting and extreme indifference to the value of human life. The crime is punishable by imprisonment for life or for such term as the court may order.

Police investigated two scenes Friday: 19 M St., where the murder was allegedly committed, and the Westport Motel on Ashworth Avenue, a few blocks from M Street. Scott Anderson, who lived at the apartment with Roderick and Bartoloni, said Friday that Bartoloni checked into the Westport Motel and police were questioning him there.

Anderson's girlfriend, Nicole Belanger, said she and Anderson found the body and reported it to police at about midnight Friday, and Hampton police were dispatched to 19 M St. at about 12:30 a.m., according to a joint prepared statement from Hampton and state police as well as the attorney general.

Anderson said he got home at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday and thought it was unusual to find the door locked. He couldn't get into the residence because he just moved in and didn't have a key. He left and returned hours later to find the door still locked, then entered the residence through a window.

Anderson said he saw Roderick on the couch with what he thought was a red shirt covering his face and thought nothing of it before going to take a shower.

"He thought he was just sleeping," Belanger said. "He was the type of guy if he was sleeping, you don't wake him up."

Belanger, who lives across the street, said she went to meet Anderson close to midnight. After some time passed and neither she nor her boyfriend heard anything from Roderick, they decided to check on him, she said.

Belanger said the head wound was so bad she initially thought Roderick had been shot.

Police did not confirm any of the details of Anderson and Belanger's account and are referring all questions to the attorney general's office.

On Saturday, police arrested Bartoloni on the grounds that he did not previously report to local police that he is a sex offender.

According to the Massachusetts sex offender registry, Bartoloni, a 6-foot-2-inch-tall, 195-pound white man, is a Level 3 offender, meaning he is a "high risk to reoffend and (poses) a high degree of dangerousness to the public."

Because of that history, he was required to notify authorities when he came to New Hampshire.

"(Bartoloni) was supposed to report living in town as a sex offender," Hampton Police Lt. Dan Gidley said of Bartoloni's arrest at 3:11 p.m. Saturday at Hampton Village Resort, 66 Lafayette Road.

When Bartoloni moved to New Hampshire, "he never notified Massachusetts, who would have notified (the Hampton Police Department)," Gidley said.

Bartoloni is documented as having lived in Lowell and Brockton, Mass., in recent years.

Bartoloni was convicted of rape in 1990 and assault with intent to commit rape in 1980, according to the Massachusetts sex offender registry. According to an Oct. 19, 1972, Associated Press article, Bartoloni was serving 11-20 years for "armed robbery, unlawful possession of a shotgun and escape from Plymouth (Mass.) Superior Court," when he allegedly stabbed another inmate at Walpole state prison.

Massachusetts court records show an unsuccessful appeal of the same incident in 1974, a case that alleged Bartoloni assaulted another prisoner with the intent to kill him while being armed with a knife.

Friends who gathered on M Street on Friday morning to remember Roderick said he struggled with alcohol but was a "gentle giant" who was nicknamed the "Bobfather."

Belanger said Roderick was originally from Massachusetts and had lived on M Street for more than a year.

According to Roderick's Facebook page, he is a "retired golf pro" who studied at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I.

It also states that he was originally from Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.

"He was a great person," Belanger said. "He got along with everybody."

Gary Miles said Roderick rented a place from him on L Street before he moved to M Street. He said he remained friends with him and would often visit him at his home.

Miles said he heard the news that his friend was dead from another beach resident.

"I had to go over there to see it for myself," Miles said. "I didn't believe it."

Miles said his friend lived paycheck-to-paycheck but often opened his door and home to people.

"He was just that type of guy," Miles said.

He said he believed Roderick had "a couple" of children and that his wife had died.

"He kept an urn by his bedside with her ashes," Miles said.

Miles said that he was uneasy to learn that his friend had moved to M Street.

"This street sucks," he said. "It's really bad, they call this the 'hood. There are some good people down here and then there is some not-so-good people. This beach is the good, the bad and the ugly."

Bartoloni is scheduled to be arraigned today at Seabrook District Court.

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